The Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from arresting former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran till September 14 as it smelled a political vendetta in the agency's sudden enthusiasm to nab him for allegedly installing a 300-line telephone exchange for the benefit of family business venture Sun TV .

“The FIR was registered in 2013. Why did you not arrest him for all this time? The investigation is hanging for two years. Your assessment of loss is Rs 1.20 crore. Maran is ready to pay that money to
BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd). We are not saying it is not misuse of power. But it is not that kind of corruption that requires arrest,“ said a bench of Justices T S Thakur, V Gopala Gowda and R Banumathi while giving Maran interim protection from arrest.

“Nobody should get away with such a crime if proved.But custody for what pur
pose? Have you arrested the BSNL officials who agreed to comply with the illegal orders of the minister and lay the telephone lines for the exchange at his home? Have you made it a matter of prestige to arrest him?“ the bench asked.

“Let us assume that he was the brain behind the running of an illegal exchange at his house in Chennai misus
ing his position as the telecom minister. You file chargesheet and prove the charges against him. If found guilty by the trial court, he will face the punishment,“ it added.

Attorney general Mukul Rohatgi's attempt to present a grim picture of the corruption indulged in by Maran to help Sun TV use the telephone lines without a bill being raised for uploading video streaming for telecast purposes drew more caustic comments from the bench.

The bench said, “We are not saying it is alright for a minister to indulge in such activities. But does this need arrest unless there is some other purpose. Political vendetta should not come in.“

It was the turn of the AG to get surprised by the bench's political vendetta comment. “I don't know from where the political vendetta issue has come in,“ he said.
Substantiating its comment on “political vendetta“ in the Dayanidhi Maran case, the
Supreme Court on Wednesday said, “This (opening of telephone exchange causing Rs 1.20 crore loss to exchequer) is not so shocking a case to require arrest. In Uttar Pradesh, the scam in National Rural Health Mis sion has allegedly cost the exchequer Rs 8,000
crore. There are at least 200 sus pects who need to be arrested. Have you arrested any one?“ Appearing for Maran, senior advocate Shaym Divan told the
court that his client was ready to pay the bills for the 300 lines installed at his residence in Chennai but denied that these were separate telephone lines for the purpose of
setting up a telephone exchange for Sun TV .

SC asked the CBI to detail the investigations done so far and the arrests effected till date by filing an affidavit within three weeks and posted the matter for further hearing on September 14. The Madras HC on August 10 had
cancelled the anticipatory bail granted to Maran for six weeks on June 30 in the telephone exchange case and directed him to surrender before CBI by August 13.